Support rail for composite continuous rail

ABSTRACT

A composite continuous surface rail is constructed by combining a load-bearing support rail divided into segments to allow for thermal expansion with a continuous surface rail that slideably engages the support rail and spans any number of support rail segments. The continuous top or surface rail includes a running rail and an expansion rail. The expansion rail is provided to absorb thermal expansion of the running rail while continuing to provide a continuous composite rail surface. The surface rail and/or support rail may be electrified. An electrified running rail and expansion rail will provide an electrified composite rail with electrical continuity.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENTS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 07/760,658 filed Sep. 16, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,346issued on Oct. 13, 1992, and entitled "Rail Mounting Clip for Railroad"which is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/569,104 filedAug. 17, 1990, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,120,910 issued on Jun. 9, 1992 andentitled "Minimum-Joint Electrified Rail system."

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to continuous surface rails for a railroad. Moreparticularly the invention relates to a composite rail and the compositerail components that make up a rail with a continuous surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A long standing problem with continuous rails in railroad tracks hasbeen the expansion and contraction of long continuous or welded rails.Typically, the entire rail in a continuous rail section is made ofsteel, steel alloys, brass or aluminum. These materials expand andcontract significantly with the changes in temperature. For example,with a wide range in temperature variations from -20° C. to +40° C., theexpansion or contraction of a continuous steel rail 1 km long can be 0.9meters. This amount of expansion or contraction will distort or evenbuckle the track. On straightaways the track will ripple, but thethermal expansion problem is particularly severe on curves. An expandingrail at a curve will push laterally against tie plates and cause therails in double rail track to spread more than the standard railseparation. Such spreading of the rails causes derailment of wheeledvehicles running on and guided by the rails.

Of course these problems have been solved in the past by shortening therail sections and providing enough longitudinal separation at abutmentjoints in successive rails to absorb the thermal expansion of the rails.However, such joints are noisy and provide a rough ride. In addition theseparated abutting joints are severe wear points for the rails, and thisproduces high maintenance cost for the railroad. In addition if the railis electrified, it is difficult to maintain electrical continuity acrossthe rail section joint from one rail to the next abutting rail.

One solution for the electrical continuity problem in the past hasincluded electrified rail sections that have electrical cablesconnecting across rail joints as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,813,502. Further,composite rails are known and, for example, include rails shown in U.S.Pat. No. 2,540,433, Norwegian Patent 70654, and United Kingdom PatentSpecification 256,434. None of these prior designs are directed tohandling the thermal expansion in continuous surface rails. In all casesthe composite rail contains fixedly attached components so that inessence they are a solid rail.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to provide a continuous surface railthat does not distort with thermal expansion.

It is another object of this invention to provide a continuous surfacerail that may be electrified.

The problem of thermal expansion in continuous rails has been solved byfabricating a composite surface rail which effectively eliminates jointsbetween abutting rail sections at the wheel contact surface of therails. The composite rail comprises a sectional support rail forcarrying the weight of the wheeled vehicle riding on the rails and asurface rail that inserts in and slideably engages the top surface ofthe support rail. Accordingly, this surface rail may be viewed as a railmounted in a rail. For ease of installation, the surface rail is moreflexible than the support rail. Further, the surface rail has a lengthindependent of the support rail sections and spans the abutment jointsbetween support rail sections. A wheeled vehicle riding on the surfacerail sees no mechanical joint or electrical discontinuity across supportrail abutment joints.

In addition the surface rail includes two types of surface rails forinsertion in the top surface of the support rail. Those two types are arunning surface rail and an expansion rail. The running surface rail maybe of any length and typically would span multiple support railsections. The expansion surface rail is a short surface rail constructedto expand the contract; it is placed between the ends or adjacentrunning rails. The expansion rail fills the gap between running rails,absorbs thermal expansion of the running rail, and provides surfacecontinuity between running rails.

In one aspect of the invention the head of the support rail is shaped toreceive and guide the surface rail. After the support rail slideablyengages the surface rail it serves to guide the more flexible surfacerail to the head of the next abutting support rail. The surface railsmate with the support rails in a number of ways. There may be grooves inthe top surface of the support rail and matching beads on the undersurface of the surface rail. The surface rail bead may have bevelededges that fit between matching counter-beveled edges on the top surfaceof the support rail. The surface rail may be a box channel shaped toslide over the head of the support rail.

If the composite rail is to be electrified, the support rail and/orsurface rail may be made of electrically conductive materials. In oneembodiment the support rail is non-conductive while the surface runningrail is conductive. The expansion rail may be conductive or insulativedepending on whether the rail is in the middle of an electrical controlblock or at the end of an electrical control block.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the continuous surface compositerail.

FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C show a fish plate for connecting abutting supportrails.

FIG. 3A shows a spring-loaded clip for mounting the support rail oninterconnecting ties.

FIG. 3B shows a support rail with a conductive surface rail and a secondstrip which is conductive, the surface rail for providing power to thevehicle and second strip for providing control signals.

FIG. 4A shows a conductive support rail having insulating layers toinsulate the support rail from the conductive top or surface rail.

FIGS. 4B and 4C show a preferred embodiment of a rail clip for mountingthe rail on ties or roadbed.

FIG. 5 shows a double cylindrical groove and matching bead for attachingthe surface rail to the support rail.

FIG. 6 shows a support rail head with a cylindrical groove to receive acylindrical shaped top rail.

FIG. 7 shows a support rail head with two continuous surface rails withdovetail beads.

FIG. 8 is the bottom view of a surface rail with discontinuous beads atspaced intervals.

FIG. 9 shows a monorail embodiment where the support rail carries twocontinuous conductive rails under the support rail overhang.

FIG. 10 shows a hanging monorail embodiment where the continuousconductive rails are slideably engaged to a vertical portion of theI-beam.

FIGS. 11A and 11B show a support rail with a head having a dovetailgroove and a foot designed to mate with the tie plates of FIGS. 16 and17.

FIGS. 12A, 12B and 12C show a support rail with a head shaped toslideably engage a box channel surface rail and a foot designed to matewith the tie plates of FIGS. 16 and 17.

FIG. 13A is illustrative of surface rails that span multiple joints insupport rails and surface rails that are shorter than a support rail.

FIGS. 13B and 13C show an expansion rail used between the surfacerunning rails.

FIG. 14 illustrates application of the invention to double rail track.

FIG. 15 shows a tie plate that slideably engages the foot of the supportrails in FIGS. 11 and 12 is pinned to the tie plate and tie with flutedpins.

FIGS. 16A and 16B show a tie plate where the fluted pins are verticallyoriented.

FIGS. 17A and 17B show a tie plate where the fluted pins are oriented at45° from the vertical.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 1. Support rail 10 ismade of electrically non-conductive or insulative material such aspoly-carbonate materials, carbon fibers, ceramics, or combinationsthereof. Any insulative material that has sufficient structural strengthto support a vehicle on the rail may be used. The top of the supportrail 10 contains a notch 12 that runs the length of rail 10. In thepreferred embodiment, notch 12 is a dovetail groove. This dovetailgroove is designed to receive the dovetail bead 14 of a continuoussurface, conductive rail 16 on top of support rail 10.

Support rails 10 are abutted end-to-end to form any desired length ofrail in a track system. In FIG. 1, support rail 10 is joined to abuttingsupport rail 18 at joint 22 by fish plate 20 and a matching counterpartfish plate (not shown) on the other side of rails 10 and 18. The fishplate brackets are usually bolted together through the body of thesupport rail with bolts and nuts.

In a light railroad implementation with low loads on the rails, the fishplates are plastic with bolts and nuts molded as a part of each fishplate. Each molded bolt (see FIG. 2C) has a nub 39 and shaft 38 moldedon the fish plate. The nub 39 snapfits through holes 58 in a matchingfish plate on the other side of the rail. For example, nubs (not shown)from the opposite-side fish plate pass through holes in rails andsnapfit through holes 26 (FIG. 1) in fish plate 20. False nuts 24 aremolded into fish plate 20 to simulate real nuts.

The surface rail 16 is attached to both rails 10 and 18 by inserting thedovetail bead 14 into matching dovetail groove 12 in the rails. The flatportion of conductive surface rail 16 rests on the top surface ofsupport rails 10 and 18. The bead 14 of rail 16 riding in groove 12holds the conductive rail in place. Thus surface rail 16 spans thesupport rail abutment joint 22 so that relative to a wheeled vehicle orelectro-motive device riding on the rail there is no physicaldiscontinuity or electrical discontinuity of the composite continuousconductive rail at joint 22.

The surface rail 16 terminates at some point along the track where it isdesirable to end an electrical control zone. In FIG. 1, rail 16terminates where it abuts against floating insulator 28. Insulator 28thus defines the end of one electric control zone or control blockdefined by conductive surface rail 16 and the beginning of the nextcontrol block defined by conductive surface rail 30.

Floating insulator 28 has a dovetail bead 32 to engage groove 12 in thesupport rail in the same manner as surface rail 16. Insulator 28 floatson support rail 18 in that it may slid along the top of rail 18. Thisallows for expansion and contraction of the surface rails due to changesin temperature.

FIGS. 2A and 2B show an alternative design for the plastic fish plates.Fish plates 34 and 35 are concave relative to the support rail 44 sothat a cavity 36 is formed between plates 34 and 35 and thenon-conductive support rails.

As illustrated in end view in FIG. 2B, nub 39 of shaft 38 is pressedthrough a hole in the fish plate by deforming the fish plates 34 and 35inward as depicted by arrows 33. Fish plates 34 and 35 are identical;when installed, plate 35 is reversed in direction relative to plate 34.Thus, shafts 38 of one plate extend through holes 58 (FIG. 2C) of theother plate. After nub 39 on shaft 38 of fish plate 34 has snappedthrough the hole in fish plate 35, plates 34 and 35 are held deformedtoward the support rail 44. As a result, plates 34 and 35 want to extendin an upward and downward direction, as depicted by arrows 42, againstthe foot 46 and head 48 of rail 44.

FIG. 2C shows details of the fish plate or bracket 34. Shafts 38 andnuts 40 are molded as a part of plate 34. The position of the innermostedge of the concave inner surface of plate 34 is illustrated by dashedline 56. Holes 58 in the plate are tapered to receive the nubs 39 ofshafts 38 that snapfit into holes 58. The molded shape of nuts 40 is amatter of choice since they are provided for aesthetics in simulatingthe appearance of conventional track installation.

FIG. 3A illustrates a clip 64 for holding the support rail to a supportmember or railroad tie 62. Alternatively, the clip could hold thesupport rail directly to the roadbed. Clip 64 has spring tension arms60. A support rail may be snapped into the clip 64 between the arms 60as shown in FIG. 3B and be held by the clip on tie 62 or a roadbed (notshown).

FIG. 3B shows a non-conductive support rail 65 and continuousconductive, surface rail 67 similar to rail 16 in FIG. 1. In additionFIG. 3B shows a second conductive strip 69 (shown in end view at the endof the composite rail) positioned at the bottom of support rail 65. Oneor more conductive strips 69 might be used to conduct control signals,such as a radio frequency control signals, down the length of the track.Conductive strip 69 would be a continuous or minimum-joint strip in thesame manner as surface rail 67.

A end view of support rail 65 with surface rail 67 and conductor 69 isshown in FIG. 4A. In addition in FIG. 4A, the support rail 65 is made ofa conductive metal such as steel, brass, aluminum or tin. In thisembodiment with a conductive support rail, there must be an insulatinglayer 67A and 69A between the support rail 65 and surface rail 67 andconductor 69. Insulating layers 67A and 69A are preferably coatings ofpolycarbonate materials. Plastics such as Vinyl or Teflon might be used.

Also shown in the end view in FIG. 4A is a space between the bottom ofsurface rail 67 and the bottom of the dovetail groove. This space isprovided so that a electrical wire might be trapped in the space afterpassing through a hole (not shown) in the support rail. Thus theconductive surface rail conductor 67 can receive electrical power from apower source.

A snap in rail clip 64 is shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B and 4C. Clip 64 isprecast or molded out of flexible poly-carbonate materials and has posts68 with ears 63 that snap fit over the base 46 of support rail 44.

In the detail of FIG. 4B, the clip 64 has upstanding posts 68 molded asa single piece with base 65. Upstanding posts 68 have arcuate,vertical-fluted surfaces 66 and ears 63 to hold a rail firmly in placeafter it is snapped into clip 64. Fluted surfaces 66 would be shaped outof a harder material than the plastic clip and for example might be ametal insert such as steel, brass, or aluminum, molded into the clip.Further the rail base is held in a recessed area 67.

In FIG. 4C, there is a top view of clip 64 in FIG. 4B. Four posts 68 areshown. Arcuate fluted surfaces 66 are shown by dashed lines. The edges67A of recess 67 are indicated. Also holes 61 in base plate 65 areprovided so that the clip 64 can be fastened to railroad ties or roadbedwith nails, spikes or bolts through the holes.

When a rail is pushed down into clip 64, base 65 and posts 68 flex toallow posts 68 to open sufficiently for the base of the rail to slippast ears 63. After ears 63 snap over the base of the rail, the rail iskept from moving vertically and is held in recess 67 by ears 63 applyingretentive forces in direction of arrows 63A. In addition the rail iskept from slipping transverse to the direction of the rail by the edgesof recess 67 and by retentive forces (in the direction of arrows 66A)from the inner arcuate surfaces 66 of posts 68. The rail is kept fromslipping along the length of the rail by the vertical fluted surfaces66.

FIGS. 5 through 7 illustrate various alternative embodiments forslideably engaging the continuous surface rail on top of the sectionalsupport rail. In FIG. 5, the top or surface rail 71 has two roundedbeads 70 and 72 for engaging rounded grooves 74 and 76 respectively insupport rail 69.

In FIG. 6, the support rail 79 has a top surface containing acylindrical groove 80 with ears 82 and 83. Continuous conductor 84 has acylindrical cross-sectional shape. When the conductor 84 is pressed intogroove 80, ears 82 and 83 of the groove snap over the conductor.Conductor 84 has a diameter somewhat greater than the depth of groove 80so that up to 20% of the diameter of the conductor protrudes above thesurface of the support rail. This will insure good electrical contactbetween the conductive rail member 84 and wheels of an electro-motivedevice drawing electrical power from the rail.

In FIG. 7, the support rail 87 has two dovetail grooves 88 and 90 toengage two surface rails 92 and 94 respectively. Top rails 92 and 94each have a dovetail bead 96 and 98 for engaging dovetail grooves 88 and90. If surface rails 92 and 94 are conductive, they may be insulatedfrom each other by a ridge 100 on the head of a non-conductive supportrail 87.

In FIG. 8, an alternative embodiment of the continuous surface rail isshown. In this embodiment, the dovetail bead 102 is discontinuous. Thebead need not extend the length of the surface rail. There only needs tobe a bead at spaced intervals. Two beads 102 and 104 are shown. Theinterval between beads should be short enough so that good engagementwith the support rail is maintained when the surface rail is slideablyengaged into the matching groove in the support rail.

FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate mating of continuous, conductive surface railsto sectional non-conductive mono-rails. The non-conductive monorailwould be built of strong relatively stiff material to support the weightof the vehicle travelling on the rail. Accordingly, the mono-rail wouldbe in sections which would be assembled to form a track. The surfacerails would be flexible and of any length and would span any number ofmonorail sections thereby providing electrical continuity for apredetermined length of track.

In the monorail illustrated as an end view in FIG. 9, the rail issupported at the base 108 by pylons or a roadbed in cross-section. Theelectro-motive vehicle rides on the top surface 110 of the monorail andcarries two electrical conductive wipers or wheels which make contactwith conductive surface rails 112 and 114. The continuous surface railshave a dovetail bead 116 and slideably engage matching dovetail groove118.

In the monorail illustrated as an end view in FIG. 10, the rail issupported at the top 120 of the I-beam by hanging support 122 incross-section. The electro-motive vehicle rides on wheels running on thetop surfaces 124 and 126 of the base 128 of the I-beam. The vehicle alsocarries two electrical conductive wipers or wheels which make contactwith conductive surface rails 130 and 132. The continuous conductivesurface rails have a dovetail shape and slideably engage matchingdovetail grooves 131 and 133 respectively.

In FIGS. 11A and 11B another embodiment for the support rail isillustrated. Support rail 140 differs from the support rail 10 in FIG. 1in the shape of the foot of the rail. Foot 142 of support rail 140 hasits lateral edges shaped to provide a vertical surface 144 and anangular surface 146 oriented approximately 45° from the vertical. Theangles of the surfaces are selected so that the foot of the rail 140will mate with the tie plate shown in FIGS. 15 to 17. The fastening ofthe rail to the tie plates and ties will be described in more detailhereinafter in reference to FIGS. 15 to 17.

The support rail 140 in FIG. 11A and 11B has a dovetail groove 148 inthe head of the support rail to receive a continuous surface rail 150.Just as in FIG. 1, the dove tail 152 on surface rail 150 slideablyengages the head groove 148 in support rail 140. The surface rail mayextend for any distance; the length of the surface rail has norelationship to the location of support rail joints except thatpreferably surface rail joints do not occur at support rail joints.

Support rail 140 in FIGS. 11A and 11B also has a foot groove 154. Groove154 might be used to carry a conductive wire. If support rail 140 ismade of a flexible material such as Acetal Nylons and polycarbonates, sothat it may be shaped to a desired path for a track, groove 154 couldreceive a stiffening rib (not shown). The rib could be attached to theroad bed on which the support rail is mounted.

FIGS. 12A, 12B and 12C show a support rail 156 similar to rail 140 inFIG. 11A except that the head 158 of rail 156 is designed to receive abox channel shaped surface rail 160. Surface rail 160 is laid on top ofhead 158 and then slideably engaged to the support rail by bending thesides 162 of the channel around the head 158 to produce the compositerail shown in FIG. 12C. The bending of the sides of the channel surfacerail 160 would be accomplished by applying a combination of localizedheat and pressure (rollers) to the sides 162 of the channel surfacerail. The heat would soften the surface rail and pressure rollers wouldbend the sides around the head. The surface rail is hooked over the headby this bending operation. The surface rail must remain slideablerelative to the head 158 of the support rail 156.

The head 158 has its four corners 164 beveled. In addition the insidecorners 166 of the channel 160 are filled to match the beveled corners164 of the support rail head. This provides more material in the surfacerail at the corners of the head in the composite rail; the corners ofthe surface rail are the points of greatest wear as railway cars ride onthe composite rail.

Depending on the application of the continuous composite rails, thesupport rail may be either a electrically conductive or non-conductivematerial. Similarly, the continuous surface rail may be conductive ornon-conductive. Some examples of support rail material would be steel,aluminum, iron, brass, ceramic, thermo plastics, and thermoset plastics;some examples of surface rail materials would be aluminum, copper,steel, steel alloys, thermo plastics, and thermoset plastics. If thesurface rail is to be electrified, then the support rail should benonconductive or an insulating layer may be placed between the surfacerail and the support rail as shown in FIG. 4A.

FIG. 13A shows a typical configuration of the continuous composite railusing short support rail segments to illustrate the independence of thelength of the surface rail from the joints in the support rail. Surfacerails may span multiple joints in the support rail or may be shorterthan a support rail segment. Four support rail segments 170, 172, 174,and 176 abut at joints 171, 173, and 175 respectively. The support railsegments are fastened together with fish plate brackets 177, 178, and179 (bolts for the fish plate brackets are not shown). Continuous,surface, running rails 180, 182, 184 and 186 are separated by surface,expansion rails 181, 183, and 185. The running rails and expansion railsall slideably engage the support rail as previously described. Theexpansion rails are designed to compress or expand longitudinally (alongthe length of the rail) to absorb expansion of the running rails.

FIGS. 13B and 13C show the preferred structure for an expansion rail.The structure of the high load-bearing expansion rail 181 is a honeycombas most clearly seen in the top view in FIG. 13B. The wall thickness andthe material used in the walls 187 of the honeycomb should havesufficient load-bearing strength so that the walls of the honeycomb willtransfer the axle weight of the wheeled vehicle riding on the rails tothe head of the support rail. At the same time the material should beresilient enough so that if the surface rail contracts after expansion,the expansion rail will expand and continue to provide a continuoussurface from a first running rail to the next successives running rail.The materials used in the expansion rail may be the same as thematerials used in the running rail as for example, steel, steel alloys,thermo plastics, and thermoset plastics so long as the material has thenecessary strength and resilience.

FIG. 13C is an end view of the honeycomb expansion rail in FIG. 13B. Thehoneycomb rail has no top or bottom walls. It does have end walls 188and may have side walls or the honeycomb may be shaped at the sides ofthe rail to provide side walls. However, the main structure of thehoneycomb rail must be the honeycomb and any exterior walls to thehoneycomb must not restrict the expansion/contraction characteristics ofthe honeycomb structure. If desired to insure mechanical and electricalcontinuity with the surface running rails, the end of the running railand the abutting ends 188 of the expansion rail may be welded, fused orbonded.

As shown in the FIG. 13A, the dove tail bead on the surface, runningrail has a depth shorter than the depth of the dovetail groove in thehead of the support rail. This is done to reduce friction between therunning rail and the support rail so that the running rail may moreeasily slide in the support rail. The depth 189 of dove tail bead forthe expansion rail may be the same as the dovetail bead on the runningrail. However for added strength in transferring the load from the topof the expansion rail to the support rail, the depth 189 of dovetailbead on the expansion rail may have the same depth as the depth of thegroove in the head of the support rail. In such an implementation, theload-bearing on the top of the honeycomb will be transferred to thebottom of the dovetail groove as well as the top of the support railhead. The added friction between the expansion rail and the support raildoes not impede the slideable engagement between the running rail andthe support rail.

The expansion rails may be electrically conductive or non-conductive. Ifthe surface rail is conductive, the expansion rails would benonconductive at the end of electrical control blocks. Within anelectrical control block the expansion rail would be conductive toprovide electrical continuity from one running rail to the next runningrail. They would then perform the dual function of compensating forthermal expansion in the surface rails and insulating abutting surfacerails so as to form electrical control blocks in the rail system. Theexpansion rail will be insulative if formed from thermo plastic orthermoset plastics. It will be conductive if formed from conductivemetals or plastics plated with conductive metals.

Each surface rail would normally span many support rail segment joints,but the surface rails may be of any length. FIG. 13A illustrates asurface, running rail 182 that spans two joints 171 and 173. FIG. 13Aalso illustrates a running rail 184 that is shorter than a singlesupport rail segment 174 whereby there are two expansion rails 183 and185 between joints 173 and 175.

FIG. 14 shows two rail track implemented with the composite rails of thepresent invention. Support rail segments 190 are the same length andpositioned on ties 192 so that abutting joints 194, 196, 198, and 200for one rail of the track are offset respectively from abutting joints201, 203, 205, 207, and 209 for the other rail. Running rail 210 spansjoints 203, 205, 207, and 209 and is supported by more than threesupport rail segments 190. Similarly surface running rail 212 spansjoints 194, 196 and 198. On the other hand running rail 215 is shorterthan one segment and positioned as shown in FIG. 14 does not span anyjoints.

All surface rails slideably engage the support rail segments to sliderelative to the support rail when the surface rails expand or contractdue to thermal expansion. The slideable engagement also facilitatesinstallation of the surface rails on the support rail segments.Expansion rails 214 in FIG. 14 are resilient and expand or contract toabsorb thermal expansion of the surface rails. The expansion rails havethe same cross-sectional shape as the running rails and may also beconductive or non-conductive if the running rails are electrified.

While the track in FIG. 14 illustrates a preferred embodiment for tworail track, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that tiesand support rail segments could be preassembled in a differentconfiguration. In preassembled two rail track the ends of the supportrail segments would be aligned. The joints between abutting and parallelsupport rails would then be aligned rather than offset as shown in FIG.14. This configuration would allow quick installation of parallelsupport rails on a roadbed. The two rail track would be finished byadding the continuous surface running rails and expansion rails.

The tie plates for fastening the support rails of FIGS. 11-14 to theties are shown in FIGS. 15-17. FIG. 15 shows an assembled composite railfrom FIG. 11A in cross-section fastened in tie plate 220 on tie 222. Tie222 is notched so that tie plate 220 is recessed in the notch in thetie. Fluted pins 224 and 226 pass through holes in tie plate 220 andholes in clamping shoes 228 and 230 and are driven into tie 222. Thuspins 224 and 226 fasten the rail to the tie plate and the tie plate tothe tie.

Pins 224 and 226 are fluted so as to engage the edge of the foot of thesupport rail 140 as the pins are driven into the tie. Pin 224 isoriented at 45° to the vertical and its flutes deform and engage 45°surface 146 at the edge of the foot of support rail 140. Pin 226 isoriented vertically and its flutes deform and engage the verticalsurface 144 at the edge of support rail foot. Since the pins engage thesupport rail foot, they tend to hold the support rail firmly againstmotion along the direction of the rail.

FIGS. 16A and 16B are top and side views of the tie plate with the holesfor spikes oriented vertically. Spikes 232 are shown in FIG. 16B. FIGS.17A and 17B are top and side views of the tie plate with the holes forspikes 234 oriented at 45° from the vertical. In both embodiments thetie plates 231 and 233 are designed for use with four spikes. In tieplate 231 holes 235 through the clamp shoes 239 and tie plate areoriented vertically. In tie plate 233 holes 237 through clamp shoes 240and the tie plate are oriented 45° from vertical. In addition to theholes for spikes 232 and 234, each of the tie plates also has four holes236 to receive spikes (not shown) for holding the tie plates 231 and 233to ties.

Vertical or non-vertical orientation of spike holes in the tie platesdepends on the forces the rail will be subject to. Vertical orientationprovides most resistance to vertical force from the rail. Non-verticalorientation provides more resistance to horizontal force from the railbut less resistance to vertical force from the rail. Tie plate 220 inFIG. 15 used a combination of vertical and non-vertical spike holes. Oneskilled in the art will appreciate that depending on the horizontal andvertical forces on the rail and the materials used for the rail, tieplates, and ties, other angular orientations of the spike holes may beselected.

While a number of preferred embodiments of the invention have been shownand described, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, that anumber of further variations or modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention.

What is claim is:
 1. A support rail carrying a continuous surface railto form a composite rail for a railroad track having a continuousoperative surface for vehicles running on the composite rail, thesurface rail having a predetermined shape for mounting on said supportrail, said support rail comprising:a support rail section shaped as arail with a foot, a head and a body, said section having a lengthindependent of the surface rail and having ends for connection with endsof adjacent support rail sections whereby a long support rail withexpansion joints is formed; and said head of each of said sections hasan exterior surface shaped to slideably hook onto the predeterminedshape of the surface rail so that said adjacent support rail sectionsand slides relative to each of said support rail sections as the surfacerail or said support rail sections expands or contracts.
 2. The supportrail of claim 1 whereinsaid exterior surface of said head has opposingfirst and second surfaces and: said first surface is positioned relativeto the second surface to slideably engage a constricted cross-sectionaldimension in the predetermined shape of the surface rail whereby thesurface rail slides along the length of said support rail sections butis otherwise constrained on said head.
 3. The support rail of claim 2wherein the predetermined shape is a dovetail bead on the surface railand:said first and second surfaces are lateral walls of a dovetailgroove in said head.
 4. The support rail of claim 1 wherein the thepredetermined shape of the surface rail is a box channel, andwhereinsaid head has a substantially rectangular cross-sectional shapewith opposing first and second surfaces; and said first and secondsurfaces are exterior lateral walls that slideably engage interior sidewalls of the surface rail channel.
 5. The support rail of claim 1wherein said support rail is fabricated from an electricallynon-conductive material.
 6. The support rail of claim 1 wherein saidsupport rail is fabricated from an electrically conductive material. 7.The support rail of claim 6 further comprising:an insulating layer onall surfaces of said head that contact the surface rail.
 8. Support railapparatus in a composite rail, the composite rail having a surface railof a length to provide a continuous surface for contact with vehiclesrunning on the composite rail, said support rail apparatuscomprising:support rail means being discontinuous and extending alongthe length of the surface rail for supporting the surface rail andvehicles running on the composite rail; and said support rail meanshaving engaging means for slideably engaging the surface rail so thatthe surface rail slides freely in said support rail means to adjust tothermal expansion or contraction of the surface rail, said engagingmeans restraining movement of the surface rail relative to said supportrail means except along the length of the surface rail.
 9. The supportrail apparatus of claim 8 wherein said support rail means iselectrically non-conductive.
 10. The support rail apparatus of claim 8wherein:said support rail means is electrically conductive.
 11. Thesupport rail apparatus of claim 10 further comprising:insulating meansfor electrically insulating said support rail means from the surfacerail.
 12. The support rail apparatus of claim 8 wherein the surface railhas an undersurface with a dovetail bead, andsaid engaging means is adovetail groove.
 13. The support rail apparatus of claim 8 wherein thesurface rail is a box channel, and whereinsaid engaging means is asubstantially rectangular shaped head on said support rail means; andsaid head has exterior walls that slideably engage interior walls of thesurface rail channel.